Agriculturally active materials, such as pesticides, herbicides and the like, are widely used throughout the agricultural industry. For convenience in packaging and handling, such agriculturally active materials are typically produced in the form of a dry solid, such as a powder, which can be readily mixed with water. The aqueous solution or dispersion of the active material is then typically applied to an area to be treated by spraying.
In order to produce aqueous solutions or dispersions suitable for application by spraying, the agriculturally active material must be in a form which can be readily incorporated with water. The agriculturally active material by itself, however, is usually insoluble in water or has an unacceptably low water solubility. Therefore, it is usually necessary to treat the agriculturally active material in some manner to enhance its combinability with water.
One such method of treating agriculturally active materials is microencapsulation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,833 discloses a process for microencapsulating water-immiscible materials, such as herbicides, and, specifically, trifluralin. The microencapsulation process involves an aqueous phase containing an emulsifier and an organic phase. The organic phase consists of a water-immiscible material, such as trifluralin, and polymethylene polyphenylisocyanate. The organic phase is added to the aqueous phase with agitation to form a dispersion of small droplets of the organic phase within the aqueous phase. Thereafter, a polyfunctional amine is added to the dispersion. The polyfunctional amine reacts with the isocyanate to form a capsular polyurea shell about the herbicide droplet. This type of microencapsulation process is termed interfacial polycondensation. Other patents which involve microencapsulation by polycondensation processes include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,360,376; 4,417,916; 4,563,212; 3,429,827; 3,577,515; 3,959,464 and 4,640,709.
Another process used to microencapsulate active materials is spray drying. U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,836 relates to a microencapsulation process using spray drying. In that process, a liquid, water-insoluble phase is dispersed in an aqueous phase. The liquid, water-insoluble phase can be materials such as plant protecting agents. The aqueous phase is a polyvinyl alcohol solution. The water-insoluble phase is dispersed in the aqueous phase using a stirrer or a homogenization device so as to produce droplets of the water-insoluble phase of from 1 to 50 microns in diameter within the aqueous phase. The dispersion is then atomized into a stream of heated air (spray dried). The spray drying dehydrates the aqueous dispersion and produces a dry powdery microcapsular product. Other patents which utilize a spray drying technique for microencapsulation include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,286,020; 4,353,962 and 4,690,786.
While various microencapsulation processes are known for various active materials, the microencapsulation of pendimethalin is not known. Furthermore, the microencapsulation of many agricultural herbicides requires the use of an organic solvent, such as xylene, for the herbicide in order to microencapsulate the herbicide. When the herbicide is applied to soil, the solvent for the herbicide is applied to the soil as well. It is obviously undesirable to apply organic solvents to agricultural field as many pollution problems will result therefrom.